Pussy Willow: she was lost and is found

A cat that disappeared in Colorado five years ago has turned up in New York, 1,600 miles away. Do you have a long-lost pet tale?

Willow, the calico cat that went missing from her Colorado home five years ago, found in New York this week and reunited with her owners thanks to an identification microchip. Photograph: Bebeto Matthews/AP

A calico cat named Willow, which disappeared five years ago from her home in Colorado, has been found on Wednesday, alive and well, on a Manhattan Street. How she travelled 1,600 miles, where she has been living and what she has been doing in the meantime are all mysteries. But there is no doubt as to Willow's identity – she has been reunited with the Squires family, her original owners in Boulder, who could be traced by an animal rescue centre in New York thanks to the computer chip under Willow's skin.

Jamie Squires expressed astonishment at being contacted – having given up hope of recovering Willow. "But then we saw the picture, and it was Willow. It's been so long … All our pets are microchipped," she added. "If I could microchip my kids, I would."

On Thursday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked for comment on the story. "I think what it does show is that everybody, in the end, wants to come and live in New York," Bloomberg said. "Now, cats reputedly have nine lives, and he [sic] clearly wanted to spend at least one of them here in New York City. I just don't know what he was waiting for."

A remarkable story, certainly, but perhaps more common than might be assumed. If you have a tale of being reunited with a long-lost pet, please tell.